


Two Defeats and a Victory

by EmperorNorton150



Series: Catra's Coup [8]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Flashbacks, Not Canon Compliant, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27014023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmperorNorton150/pseuds/EmperorNorton150
Summary: Catra's been fighting her whole life. When is she going to start fighting for herself?
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Catra & Lonnie (She-Ra), Catra & Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)
Series: Catra's Coup [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805098
Comments: 13
Kudos: 34





	Two Defeats and a Victory

_THREE YEARS AGO_

Catra was in the command tent, a full half-a-league behind the front line, when the attack started but she could still hear it. A series of hammer-blow explosions as rebel catapults hit the Horde trenches with a rain of bombs and sorcerers unleashed their blasting spells. Then the rattle of small-arms fire, the crackle of lasers and the thunder of automatic weapons as the Horde opened fire. Volleys of arrows screamed through the air, then the unmistakable clang of steel on steel as the rebel troops hit the frontline trenches, mixed in with the _zap_ of shock-sticks and the screams of the wounded. It was…...it was _too loud_. She paced to the tent’s doorway and faced east, cocking her ears and listening intently.

“Fools. Our defenses will easily stop them, and I will dispose of the survivors at my leisure” proclaimed Shadow Weaver. Catra ignored her, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She turned and hurried back across the tent to the map where their scouts had penciled in the results of their missions just an hour before. She glared at it, her tail lashing, then traced a line with her finger. It was worse than she’d thought.

“We need to evacuate. Now.” Shadow Weaver turned, and stared at her, eyes glinting through her mask.

“What are you babbling about child?”

“It’s a trap. This entire campaign has been a trap.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

“ _Listen!_ ” snapped Catra. “They’re attacking our front lines with _at least_ three times as many troops as our intelligence said were in this entire sector. And here” she jabbed at the map. “We have multiple reports of rebel horsemen in the forest, on our southern flank. They’re using the frontal attack to pin us in place, then when we’re fully committed, they’ll sweep in over the river like _this_ and cut our line of retreat. It’ll be a total rout and we’ll be lucky if we get a quarter of the army out of this valley alive!” Catra had _warned_ her that advancing this deep into a gorge with only one road out was a bad idea, she had _warned_ her.

“You’re being absurd” said Shadow Weaver after a moment. “We will continue the attack, despite your cowardice.”

“We don’t have enough reserves to hold both the front and the line of the river! If we try, they’ll defeat us in detail!”

“ _Silence!_

 _“_ But—!”

“Be silent Force Captain, or I will _discipline_ you.” Catra froze, then bowed jerkily and stalked out of the tent, tail extended fully. Outside she could hear it ever more clearly, the roar of battle surging as the Princess Alliance troops attacked again and again all along the line. Flares lit the sky as rockets screamed overheard to vanish in flashes of light as they met spell-bursts and detonated. Behind her, she could hear Shadow Weaver coldly dictating orders into a communicator, and a company of bots were rushing past her to reinforce the front. She stood for a moment, fingering her Force Captain badge, then came to a decision and dashed back deeper into the Horde encampment.

She found Scorpia in the supply dump, sitting on a crate of munitions and whistling.

“Hey wildcat! How’s it going with all the command stuff?” she said, waving.

“Orders from Shadow Weaver” snapped Catra. “Load up the supplies, and begin moving the reserve brigade and as much of the support infrastructure as you can back down the road. Don’t stop till you get to Castle Drakon.” Scorpia frowned, and scratched her head delicately with the tip of one pincer.

“Oh! Um……are you sure about that? Because that doesn’t sound like what Shadow Weaver told us the plan was this morning at the big meeting…...”

“Of course I’m sure! Don’t question orders Scorpia, just get the troops moving _now_!”

“Ok, ok, whatever you say. Gosh, what a hassle. You coming?”

“No. I’ll be commanding the rear guard. I’ll see you tonight.” Scorpia climbed to her feet and pulled Catra into a hug.

“Take care of yourself, ok?” For once, Catra didn’t resist.

“I’ll do my best.”

She waited until the first wagons and trucks were rolling west down the highway before drifting back to the command pavilion. Shadow Weaver made no acknowledgment of her arrival. She parked herself against a tent pole and waited for the inevitable. The rebel assault waxed and waned all afternoon, Alliance soldiers sweeping up, attacking with great fanfare, falling back again, and then repeating the maneuver again a few minutes later. They made no attempt to break through, but put enough pressure on the Horde defenses that it would be impossible for them to withdraw any troops without creating the risk of a breach. More reports came in from the south, rebel movements deep in the woods that couldn’t be tracked down. It was _so obvious_. Artillery boomed back and forth overhead, wounded troops trickled back and reinforcements trickled forward. 

She knew the exact moment Shadow Weaver learned of what she’d done, knew by the minute stiffening of her shoulders as she listened to a communique come in. Catra drew herself up, trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach as the sorcerer turned to face her.

“How dare you violate my orders?” she hissed. “How _dare_ you?” Catra inspected her claws.

“I saved a brigade of troops from this catastrophe. Maybe now we’ll only lose the army and not the entire province.”

“Typical. You grow frightened of a mere phantasm and so throw away all of my efforts. _Adora_ never would have—” 

“Yes, _Adora_ would have done whatever you want like a good little Force Captain. Well, too bad, you’ve got me instead!” Shadow Weaver raised a hand, crackling with black fire, and Catra braced herself. Then in the distance—something exploded. A pillar of fire and smoke rose above the tree line, mushrooming into the atmosphere. Shadow Weaver and Catra both turned to stare at the southern horizon. _That was the main fuel depot_ she thought. A communicator crackled to life in the tent behind them. 

“ _We’re under attack! This is Sergeant Narax, 18 th Scout Battalion, please respond Command One! There’s a major rebel force coming out of the woodlands, they’ve got the flower princess and the mermaid one and they’re hitting us hard! They’ve forded the river already and I don’t have the manpower to stop them—” _they could hear screaming in the background, the crackle of electricity and the roar of water. _“We’re falling back and we need reinforcements now! Command One, please resp—”_ The call cut off into static. Shadow Weaver stood motionless for several long seconds.

“Once again, your incompetence has cost us a battle Catra” she said at last. “We must begin an evacuation at once. I will organize it. _You_ will command the rear guard.”

“As you command” she said tonelessly, and left the tent. If she focused her ears, she could hear the fighting to the south now too. That wasn’t good, it meant the princesses had already pushed to within at least a league of the highway. This wasn’t going to be easy. She spat in the dirt, and trotted towards the front line to see about organizing a phased withdrawal before it was too late. If they were very lucky, they might still be able to get _half_ the army out in time.

* * *

_TWO YEARS AND SIX MONTHS AGO_

Catra sprinted down the main street of Glenmar Town. All around her, lasers ripped across the sky and explosions shook the earth as a dozen Horde bots thundered past her towards the rebels. Her pursuer wasn’t even inconvenienced. With a single sword stroke, she vivisected one, igniting the central processing unit with a blast of energy, then punched through the titanium skin of another with a kick. By then, Catra had rounded the bend into the town square.

“Get back here!” shouted She-Ra, pounding after her. She whipped round the corner, then yelped and jumped back as a pair of claws came close to snagging the front of her clothes. Catra laughed and pounced forward, slashing up at She-Ra’s stomach from below.

“Aww, are you having trouble keeping up? Do you need a little help?” She-Ra twisted her wrist, and the sword slashed at Catra, forcing her to leap back, and then roll as She-Ra followed that up with a series of hacks at the pavement.

“No I do not!” she yelled. Catra rolled to her feet, and feinted forward. Adora drew back into a guard position, and Catra turned and dashed across the plaza, leaping onto the balcony of the mayor’s mansion and clambered up the spire. “Hey—stop that!” She-Ra chased after, effortlessly jumping up and grabbing onto the mansion’s rain gutter. She began to haul herself hand-over-hand.

“Oh Adora” Catra sang out sadly from the pinnacle, where she now perched. “When will you ever learn?”

“Never! I mean—what? Ouch!” A flowerpot bounced off her head, then another, then several roof shingles. With a squawk, she let go and fell to the ground with a crash. Catra chucked, and turned to survey the rest of the battlefield. It……...could be going better. Her bots were being systemically destroyed by a company of rebel troops and that net-tossing ( _she still didn’t see how that qualified as a magic power but whatever_ ) lady, and that snow-girl ( _Frosty? Sure, close enough_ ) was busy liberating the townsfolk from the prisoner camp she’d set up down by the river.

“Looks like you’ve lost again, _Catra_ ” said a voice from behind her. With a sigh, Catra turned to see She-Ra standing on the roof beam, sword brandished triumphantly and a flowerpot jammed on her head. She smirked. “Thought you’d seen the last of me?” Catra rolled her eyes.

“You fell, like, two stories, _of course_ I didn’t think I’d seen the last of you. Anyways, you’re too late. Look!” She pointed to the rolling hills beyond the village, where a towering construct of green and black steel and titanium was belching smoke and fumes. “Any minute now, that drill is going to break through into the Starlight Caverns and the First One crystal computer is going to belong to the _Horde_. And there’s _nothing_ you can do to stop me!” 

“But there’s something _I_ can do to stop you!” a voice boomed from up above. Catra looked up, and her eyes widened as that stupid flying horse swooped by overhead, arrow boy clinging desperately to its back.

“Shoot it down!” she screamed at her troops below. “Quick!” A few lasers flashed into the sky, and a stream of tracers from an anti-aircraft gun, but the aerial equine spun like a top, dodging between them effortlessly. As it swept past the hill, the archer fired, sending a stream of arrows into the Horde construct. Glue spurted out from each one, soaking into the machinery. There was a _scream_ of grinding gears and snapping pistons, a _howl_ of venting steam, and then the entire, massive machine snapped in two, the upper half crashing into the forest below. In the streets below, rebel troops cheered. The horse did a celebratory loop-de-loop.

“Why don’t you just surrender Catra?” asked She-Ra, pointing her sword at the Force Captain. “Make things easier for yourself.” Catra snarled, then tossed a smoke bomb at her nemesis and leapt from the rooftop to a neighboring building. She heard coughing behind her, and hammering footsteps as She-Ra chased after her. She leapt to another house, then another, then ducked as the sword cut through the air where she’d been standing. She pivoted, kicking wildly, and was rewarded with an “Oof!” as She-Ra was knocked back. She followed that up with a series of slashes, ripping open She-Ra’s sleeve and forcing her onto the defensive.

“Adora! Duck!” a voice shouted. Catra yowled as a blast of purple fire smashed into the rooftiles right between them. The sparkly princess appeared in a shower of glitter and a _popping_ sound, then sent two more blasts of energy at the Force Captain. Catra dodged, dodged again, then found herself up against the edge of the building. The two princesses closed in, brandishing their weapons. She sighed, and shook her head.

“Sorry Adora, looks like my time here’s done. I’ll be seeing you around.” With that, she did a backflip and dropped straight off the building—landing perfectly on the roof of the armored personnel carrier parked below. She hammered on the hatch as she dove inside. “Drive Scorpia! Get us out of here!”

“Sure thing wildcat! On it!” The vehicle roared away from Glenmar, leaving a trail of fumes and sparks behind. Catra flopped into one the seats in the troop compartment, taking off her mask and running her fingers through her sweaty, matted hair. She plugged orders into her tracker pad, commanding her troops to fall back into Horde territory. She thought

_This is starting to get really tiresome._

* * *

_TWO YEARS AGO_

Lonnie watched the attack roll in and smiled like a shark. They’d been hounding the rebels across the Crimson Wastes for a week now, hitting them with air attacks, using tank squadrons to cut apart their columns in the open desert. They’d fallen back to the Valley of the Lost and the Horde had driven them out with an artillery bombardment. Now they’d finally fallen back to their last redoubt, a ruddy, steep-sided mesa maybe twenty leagues west of their city. It was a good defensive position, she acknowledged, scanning the high cliffs with her binoculars. But it wasn’t going to be enough to save them.

Tanks and bots swept onto the plains, firing barrages of shells and laser-bursts at the rebels, who responded with fire from improvised mortars and a hail of darts. Meanwhile, Catra and her new recruits pushed forward under the covering fire. When they were within a few yards of the mesa they left froward, abandoning their cover and swarming up the cliffsides. With a roar, the rebels surged to meet them, hurling bombs and stones down at them, firing arrows, or waiting at the top with drawn steel to match them in hand-to-hand combat. They batted down the first wave of attackers to reach the summit, but then Catra arrived, whirling like a dust-devil. Outlaws swarmed to challenge them, and weapons clashed together in the noonday heat, Catra’s claws beating aside swords and spears with ease. Other Horde troops scrambled up to reinforce them, and more rebels rushed over to try and push the Horde toehold back off the mesa’s rim. Nobody was watching the eastern edge of the plateau, where a dry gully ran almost to its foot, providing cover. A yellow flare shot up from one of the Horde tanks, bursting above the battlefield. It was time. Lonnie slipped out from behind the thorn bush she’d been using as cover and dashed back down the gulch to where her company was waiting.

“Ready?” she whispered. Rogelio growled and lashed his tail, Kyle gulped, but nodded. The other troops signaled their assent. Silently, they scrambled up out of the ravine and began to scale the mesa’s sides, using grappling hooks and pitons to haul themselves up. From the other side of the plateau they could hear screams and explosions and the roar of battle cries, but nobody was watching the eastern approaches anymore. One by one, they slithered up onto the top and took formation. Lonnie waited until the last of them was in position, then she gave the order. With a howl of

“ _For the Horde!_ ” the company stormed across the roof of the massive rock, leaping through the unguarded rebel trenches and slamming into their flank. Most of them, focused entirely on Catra’s attack, never even saw them coming. A few, more observant than their comrades, spun around and tried to form a new defensive line. They never stood a chance.

Night had fallen, and the Horde troops were still busy rounding up prisoners, recovering damaged vehicles and weapons for repair, and scouring the captured rebel encampment for supplies. Lonnie trudged through the Horde bivouac towards Catra’s command tent, wiping the sweat from her brow. Even at night here the heat was blistering. Arriving, she heard voices and paused at the entrance, not wanting to interrupt. Through the open flap she could see Catra slouched in her chair, legs propped up on her desk. Across from her was Force Captain Callix.

“…...I’ll be leaving you the 24th Mechanized Brigade, along with a support echelon and the new recruits, and taking the 14th and 7th back to the Fright Zone. Will that be enough?” she asked.

“It should be” he said slowly in his gravelly voice. “At least to deal with the local rabble. If the princesses show up again….”

“I’ll send help” she assured him. “But I wouldn’t worry. I intend to keep our friends _very busy_ closer to home.” She paused, then said “About that other matter we discussed…...” Callix grunted.

“You’re playing a dangerous game.”

“Everyone’s playing it, like it or not. _I’m_ just trying to win.” He barked a laugh.

“Ha! Fair enough. Yes, you’ll have my support. Give me three months and I’ll be able to guarantee—” Lonnie’s foot slipped on the sand, sending a little shower of pebbles rattling down the hill. Both of the tent’s inhabitants spun to face her, Callix’s hand leaping to the shock-stick holstered on his belt and Catra’s claws extending. The three of them stared at each other, a frozen tableau. Callix looked at Catra. She shook her head, infinitesimally.

“I think that will be all, Force Captain” Catra said at last, snapping the tension. “See me in the morning with a more detailed report?”

“Of course” he said, standing up and saluting. With a nod to Lonnie, he brushed past her and vanished into the night. Lonnie waited for the explosion, but Catra just looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“You requested a status update on the prisoner interrogations….” she said, holding out a tracker pad. Catra grabbed it, scrolled through it for a moment, then put it aside. She climbed to her feet.

“Walk with me” she said, and strolled out of the tent.

The moons gleamed overhead as the two girls silently tramped out into the desert. Catra was tossing her Force Captain badge up and down, up and down, the metal glittering in the dark.

“You did good work out there today” she said finally. Lonnie shrugged.

“Element of surprise. They didn’t see us coming.”

“Still. Success deserves recognition. She sighed. “Unfortunately, in the Horde, the reward for success is usually just another job.” Lonnie snorted.

“You got that right.”

“It just doesn’t seem fair, does it?” Catra asked, almost casually. “I mean, we do all the work, win the battles, conquer the world for the Horde…….and Hordak gets all the rewards.”

“That’s……that’s how it goes” said Lonnie. “No use whining about what you can’t change.”

“Hmmm. Yes. I suppose you’re right. But….”

“What?”

“But maybe it doesn’t have to be.”

“What are you _getting_ at Catra?” Lonnie snapped, exasperated. Up and down, up and down. Catra wasn’t even watching the badge, her heterochromatic eyes locked onto Lonnie, but her hand still unerringly snatched it out the air each time it fell. 

“I think” said Catra “you know.” Lonnie blanched.

“Bloody stars Catra, are you insane? If he finds out you’re even _thinking_ about this you’re dead!”

“I’m dead anyways” said Catra calmly. “We all are. Lonnie, you don’t know Hordak. I do. He’s _insane_. He’s either going to lose this war and we’ll all be screwed or he’ll get tired of us and dispose of us anyways.” Lonnie winced, instinctively looking around to see if anyone was close enough to hear.

“Catra, this is treason.”

“Only if I lose” she said, smiling with all her fangs. Lonnie shook her head.

“You’re serious. You’re actually—you’re actually planning…...”

“To overthrow Hordak? Deadly serious. I think it’s time that those who _fight_ for the Horde _rule_ the Horde. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“What do you need _me_ for then, if you’ve got it all figured out?”

“I’m going to need help. Allies, subordinates, commanders. People who can expect _great_ rewards once I’m running things.” Lonnie kicked a rock, shaking her head again. She’d always known Catra was ambitious, and it had gotten worse since Adora had betrayed them. But this…...

“How can I trust you?” she said at last. Catra grinned.

“Excellent question. Because I need you. There’s not that many people I trust, Lonnie, and you’re one of them. You’ll never be anything but a foot solder to Hordak. I can promise you a Force Captain’s badge at least, and as much power or wealth as you want. And unlike some people, _I_ keep my promises.” Lonnie stood silently, thinking. Clouds drifted overhead, dancing silver with the moonlight. In the distance, some unspeakably monstruous creature was howling. Catra just stood there, waiting. Up and down, up and down.

“I could turn you in” she said, a little hesitantly, eyeing Catra’s claws. “Hordak would reward me.”

“He would indeed. Promote you to Force Captain, make you his lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief. You’d have the same job Shadow Weaver did, and that I have now. Notice a pattern there?” Lonnie grimaced. Catra kept talking. “You think it’s bad working for me?” She laughed. “Try reporting directly to the Big Boss. I’d give you six months. Tops.” She was……right, blast her. And besides, Lonnie didn’t have the stomach to turn in Catra. She might not particularly like the girl but…...she was Catra. She was one of Them. The thought crystalized a decision.

“I’m in” she said, before she could think about it. Lonnie had never been like Adora or Catra, she didn’t want to save the world or rule it or stamp her name upon it in letters of fire. She just wanted to get by. And sometimes that meant putting your fate in someone else’s hands. She’d rather that be Catra than Hordak. She snapped to attention and saluted. “At your command, Force Captain!” She’d saluted her commander plenty of times before, but this time felt differently, like something was locking into place. It was no longer a matter of orders from the top or chain of command. It was a question of fealty. Of allegiance. Catra returned the salute gravely.

“Get some sleep. We’ll be heading home at dawn tomorrow, and then we’ll have a lot of work to do.” As she headed back into camp, she heard Catra half-whisper “But then _I’ll_ be the one calling the shots”. Lonnie shivered. 

**Author's Note:**

> \- If it's not clear, the first section takes place sometime in season 1, the second sometime in season 2, and the third in what would have been season 3 or 4 except that the canon diverges at the end of season 2 when Shadow Weaver doesn't join the Rebellion.


End file.
